Temper
by AuroreMartell
Summary: Willow Heddle knows that Gendry's still in love with Arya. But still. (Prompt: unpopular ship drunk party games)


A/N: Prompt was "unpopular ship" and "drunk party games." Don't judge. But please review.

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Willow Heddle can't believe that, out of all people, she got paired up with Gendry Waters to be her closet mate. She'd have settled for that slut Margaery Tyrell, who she just saw exiting the closet with unbuttoned jeans, flushed lips and Tyene Sand on her arm, if it meant she wouldn't have had to sit in a dark closet with her ex boyfriend.

She blames it all on the party's hostess, Cersei Lannister, who tonight has been drunk enough to suggest a rampant game of Seven Minutes. It sounded so immature, but Willow had just wanted to get with someone to make her forget about Gendry, her ex, even for seven minutes. _Cersei Lannister_, she thinks.

"Just so you know, I was hoping for Edric Dayne to pick my name," Willow informs Gendry as soon as he gets in the door and sits down.

"Thanks," Gendry mutters. "And I'd have preferred Arya, as you well know."

This hurts Willow pretty badly, and her temper flares. "Well, it's a good thing this game's only for the single people. It's not like Miss Fancy Arya Stark is ever gonna pick you over Griff Young. Her boyfriend."

There's a split second of silence, and Willow can imagine Gendry doing that scrunchy thing with his eyelids that he would always do when he was deeply offended. "Jesus Christ, Willow. Can't we have one normal conversation without bringing up Arya?"

"You said her name first," Willow says petulantly.

Gendry sighs, like she's the stupid one, and suddenly Willow is furious.

"And no, Gendry, we can't talk without bringing her up. Don't you remember why you dumped me? It was because your ex came waltzing back into our lives, and you dropped me like a piece of trash when she puckered her lips for you again."

"You're still holding grudges?"

"Yes, I am!" Willow's practically snarling at him. "Yes! Because it's not super fun when the guy you thought you were going to marry dumps you out of nowhere. She was your ex! Arya was an ex! And you had told me you were never going to date her again! So yeah, I'm holding a grudge!"

"I said I was sorry-"

"You looked over your shoulder, said 'sorry,' and ran off with her." Willow notices her voice is getting very tight, like she's about to cry, but she's not going to pass up this opportunity to berate her ex. "You left me! You knew I had to take care of my entire family alone, ever since Jeyne left to join that stupid gang! Nineteen baby brothers and sisters, Gendry, and you had been the only one to help out. And you left."

"I didn't want your family to get hurt," tries Gendry.

"Oh _bullshit_! If you really loved them, you'd have gotten me help. You'd have left money, or you'd at least have said goodbye! D'you think it was easy to tell nineteen little kids why the guy they've all been calling 'daddy' for the past six months has left? I mean, their oldest sister is gone, and I don't even know who my parents are, let alone theirs. Seriously!"

"Willow. I'm sorry, okay? Just calm down."

She doesn't want to calm down. "No. For the last month, I've had to deal with you making out with Arya every freaking day, with you totally ignoring me, with her bitchy little side-eyes, and now with your sad puppy eyes whenever you see her sucking face with Griff."

"Well, fine." He sounds resigned. "So you're probably happy that Arya is dating Griff, huh? So now no girl will ever date me, and I can just suffer for the rest of my life? Does that make you happy, Willow?"

Willow heaves a sigh of her own, suddenly feeling so exhausted. Even when they were dating, when everything seemed cool between them, they would always fight like this. Always, always, because both of them were angry all the time. Because both of them had been built up on rage, and both of them had been led behind. "No, Gendry. That doesn't make me happy, okay? No."

"No?" He pauses, and Willow can hear his breath hitch.

"No. Because now you're all weak." Willow's never been one for white lies. "And it's annoying."

Gendry is silent for a moment. "If it makes you feel any better, I actually am sorry. I liked your family. I was stupid."

"Whatever," Willow mutters.

"Sooo..." Gendry is clearly struggling for something nice to say. "You and Edric Dayne, huh?"

"Don't." Willow leans her head against one side of the closet. "Don't act like when we get out of here, we're going to become best friends. Just stop."

"Willow, I don't want you to be mad at me," says Gendry quietly. "I'm just trying to make small talk, because we've got three full minutes left. Can't we be nice to each other, for just a few minutes?"

_No_, she thinks, because neither of them are especially nice people. But in a tiny part of her heart, Willow wants to let there be just a moment of happiness with him, because in an even tinier part of her heart, she still really really likes him. And it sickens her, but she speculates that maybe she can get past that.

"D'you remember," Willow says softly, into the darkness, "when Thea, the six-year-old with the birthmark, tried to carve a cucumber for Valentine's Day?"

At first, she wonders if he's forgotten, but then Gendry sucks in some air and starts laughing. "Oh my god, I do. That was the best."

"She had said," recants Willow, "that it made her upset that people only carved pumpkins for Halloween, and the best part of that holiday was-"

"Making the vegetables have faces," Gendry finishes, and laughs again. "God, I loved Thea. How's she doing?"

"I think she's okay." It's a total lie this time- Thea cried the hardest when Gendry had left them, and refused to come out of her room for a full day. "She misses you, though. We all miss you. The kids liked you."

"You all miss me?"

His voice is surprised, but not exactly hopeful like Willow would have guessed. And it hurts again, because she knows he doesn't want to come back to her. Gendry wants to go back to beautiful Arya and live happily ever after.

But people don't get happily ever afters, Willow knows. She's been taught that, time and time again.

"I guess it was nice to have a friend," Willow forces out. Her teeth are clenched so she doesn't cry.

"A friend," says Gendry quietly.

"I- I was sad that Jeyne left. She was my sister."

Willow hates herself for her temper, for being so unbalanced, for the wretched ability to go from happiness at being invited to one of Cersei's parties to shock at being paired with Gendry to rage to sadness to fury to depression again.

Gendry fumbles for Willow's hand. "I'm sorry about your sister," he offers, his voice warm. "You know- I really respect you, and I know that sounds weird, but I do. I think you're pretty strong, taking care of all those kids by yourself. You were a great mother." He inhales. "You were a great girlfriend, Willow."

Willow wants to pull away from his hand, because it makes her think of _what could have been_, but for now she realizes that maybe she needs to stop dwelling on her sad sad past and look to the future.

Leaving the closet means facing the curious, judging glances towards Willow's wet puffy eyes, but she doesn't really care. Because she is Willow Heddle, after all. She is strong and she is a mother, and that means she doesn't need to care about those peasants.

And Edric Dayne doesn't seem to care that she's been crying, because for the rest of the party he sits with Willow and makes her laugh, and everything feels good again.


End file.
